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Ensure passage of resolution, says T.R. Baalu

DMK leader T.R. Baalu on Thursday wanted the government to ensure the passage of the U.N. resolution against Sri Lanka at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Initiating the short-duration discussion in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Baalu demanded that those guilty of war crimes in Sri Lanka should be taken to the International Court of Justice to “give some solace to the victims.”

“India should not be lukewarm. It should have a clear-cut approach on the issue at the U.N.,” he said.

“Twenty five years have passed since the Rajiv Gandhi-Jayawardene accord was signed, but it has not been implemented so far,” he noted. “Genocide” of Tamils in the war and atrocities against them had not yet stopped.

Besides mass killings and rapes, Tamil language and culture were being targeted as shown in the change of names of a large number of villages in the Tamil-dominated areas of the island nation, he said, adding that the war criminals must be punished in the same way as those convicted for similar crimes in Bosnia, Syria and other places by the International Court of Justice.

M. Thambidurai (AIADMK) also said that though the Rajiv Gandhi-Jayawardene accord was signed in 1987, India could not ensure its implementation till now. Implementation of the 13th Amendment that gave more powers to provincial councils was part of it.

Dayanidhi Maran (DMK) said eight crore Tamils were looking up to the Centre on what decision it was going to take. India was the biggest force in the region and the country should act decisively on the issue.